Taiwan - Week 70 - December 15 - Merry Christmas...Almost :-)

Well fam so sorry, I spent all my time today getting the pictures for next week's farewell at the mission home ready so I'm pretty close on time!!

This week in a nutshell:

- Nitti came for dinner!!! She is doing soooo well, but really having a hard time with the mission decision in regards to her mom wanting her to wait, but feeling she needs to go.......so we cried together as we talked about the blessings that come to our families as we serve the Lord :)

- Etiquette Dinner! So great! not a lot of investigators there, but they are trying to do these consectutively so the youth can bring more and more friends!

- My companion is my angel, literally an angel from Heavenly Father and she is so intune :)

- CJM is still doing well, just helping her to have her own personal answer to rely on :) 

- This week is Christmas Activity and all!! We are singing in the schools and we have the ward Christmas party too :) Will be a week to remember :) So great to have felt Heavenly FAther's love so deeply in the last day or so............I'm so excited for the future and so grateful He has prepared me for it :)

I love the Savior and I love you all too!

Sister J. :)

Taiwan - Week 69 - December 8 - The Saviors Love

Hi family!

Well what a week :) So grateful for the love of our Savior and His example..........this week at our follow-up training meeting, the thing which President Blickenstaff emphasized the most was kindness, love, and charity. How amazing.......sometimes it's so easy to get caught up in the "work" part and the skills and all.........but what most importantly did the Savior do? He sacrificed for all of us because He loves us. Without love, we truly can't do anything well or really by the Spirit :) The times of my mission when I have loved my companion with all my heart, when we have felt such Heavenly love for investigators and members...real charity.......have been the happiest times of my mission!! and the closest I felt to the Savior :) This week I want to seek a renewed desire for love and charity for all..........to share it, show it, and live it. and that is only possible through the Savior- for He has changed my life forever!

The work is hastening! The members are so wonderful..............they are finding more and more friends who are being prepared by Heavenly Father to hear the Gospel :) We have an Etiquette Dinner for the youth next week the RS is throwing with us to help them also get more excited to bring friends to church!! So grateful for the miracles we see every day!

O and HJM got her Patriarchal Blessing last week! She wrote me and told me all about it :)

A scripture that I love to share after we teach the Plan of Salvation.......

"And what is it that ye shall hope for? Behold I say unto you that ye shall have hope through the Atonement of Christ and the power of his resurrection, to be raised unto life eternal, and this because of your faith in him according to the promise."
-Moroni 7:41

O I love this scripture!! These words ring true! Because of Him, we can have hope, we can have faith, we can have joy.......in this life and in the life to come! The greatest joy and hope I have felt in my own life has all come from the changing power of the Atonement. It brightens our lights and we can truly be filled with His love and a fullness of joy! Believe in Him, trust Him, increase your faith in Him, and your days will ring with hope and joy.......for we will see Him again! I love you all so much!!!!! Have an amazing week!!

Love you!

Sister Jarvis

oh PS you can keep CJM in your prayers! She is doing well, just trying to help her really obtain her testimony and feel the power of the Atonement :)

Members took us to lunch and we ate sooo much!

Taiwan - Week 68 - December 2 - Happy December!

Hi my dearest wonderful family!!

Wow!!! What a week!!!!! Let's go through the play by play.........

First off! Mission Tour with Elder and Sister Funk!!! So incredible!!! Sister Blickenstaff spoke on perspective with the Plan of Salvation and invited all of us to study it and gain our own testimony of every part...........President Blickenstaff talked about working with the members and the best way to do so.......received a lot of inspiration for our circumstance right now! Sister Funk talked about the Spirit and revelatory experiences in such meetings as well as the importance of the Holy Ghost, Elder Funk talked about His talk from the Priesthood Session on having spiritual power as a missionary through humility, listening to the Spirit, and being obedient. He also talked about teaching the Restoration...........he talked about teaching that which was expedient......most importantly the Restoration and the Atonement. It was just so wonderful and it helped me realize how I can improve with our member efforts- really, really getting to know them first and then more natural ways of seeking their help with missionary work, such as PmF, etc. I have already seen a difference in the last week! I had a chance to chat with Sister Funk at lunch and they are former mission presidents from India so Elder Barlow served with them! Sounds like a super special mission........very grateful to Heavenly Father for the words and inspiration they brought to us.......that as we use, will change us, and help us become better disiples of Christ.

Second off! We had the tri-ward Thanksgiving Party on Saturday and we weren't sure how it was going to go......but it went fantastically!!!! We had over 150 people there and everything went so well!!!!!! We made a gagillion chocolate cookies that were gone in about 5 minutes and some of the members helped us make them so that was fun :) The amazing part was we also had two investigators there and the members took great care of them :) Then the previous Sunday we had invited all of the Sisters to invite one friend, family member, neighbor etc. to the party and one sister brought her sister-in-law and the other brought one of the girls who lives in their apartment- so amazing!!!! They brought them up and introduced them to us right away and one of them came to church the next day too and she can feel the Spirit so easily!! At the party we had some football, hand-turkey making, and a whipped creme/ unwrap candy in your mouth contest that everyone loved!! It was just incredible! The Elder in charge did such a great job and I was estounded by how successful it was! The work is truly hastening!!!! The members and the missionaries are taking action together.........I came home that night so grateful to Heavenly Father for such a successful missionary activity.......I know that through our smallest efforts, the Lord will work wonders and the work will hasten!

Third off! Our investigator CJM is absolutely incredible.......because she works nights, it's sometimes hard to talk to her throughout the week, but we shared the Plan of Salvation with her yesterday and she was so prepared.........she had read the pamphlet the day before and she has consistently been praying :) She was adorable in church yesterday, as she introduced herself..........that she is in the baby stages of the Gospel, not baptized yet, but wants to share it with everyone :) She's an absolute miracle from Heavenly Father..........she is going to be such a strong member and be the means of helping many others ETTE as well.........again, all I can offer is Gratitude to Heavenly Father and my Savior!!!

I want you all to know I love you so and that Hastening the Work of Salvation is exactly what the Lord wants us to be doing........each and every member!! Whenever we get focused on it, pray about it, or act about it......miracles just happen and I feel the spirit so strongly guiding us along! We are seeing little miracles take place here in Tanzi- these members are incredible :) O how much I have seen my own weaknesses get in the way, but the Lord so miraculously helps me to work over them and know I will continue to :) The Atonement of Jesus Christ is real and there is no other means by which we can enter the kingdom of God or be near Him..........that I know to be true with all my soul. Have an amazing week and love you all!!

Sister J. :)

Our Christmas tree

Taiwan - Week 67 - November 24 - Happy Thanksgiving

Hi Family!!

Well happy Monday! We're all moved in.......well everything's in, but haven't had time to put it all away :) Kind of funny being in the Elders' old apartment, but it's closer to our area so that's a blessing! Our amazing new investigator still has her goal for Dec. 28th and she's so amazing! She has to work nights so we met really fast with her on her off day and she told us how much this Gospel is already changing her life......I had to keep reminding myself that she's only ever heard the 1st lesson because it sounded like she's been around it for much longer :) She has such sincere questions.....how can I be more confident? How can I overcome bad memories from the past? Ah! All answered through the Savior! She also told us Saturday night that she had shared the Gospel! We asked her how and she said she went to the store to buy stuff and told the people she met that this Gospel has really helped her! Wowee! She wants to serve a mission too! and we've only met with her 3 times! I know that Heavenly Father has prepared her heart at this time and she said she feels the Savior knew she needed help :) You can keep praying for her and the other amazing mother- how grateful I am to Heavenly Father for these Sisters!

It may not be easy, but it's oh so worth it!! We are beginning to see movement in Tanzi with hastening the work of salvation! We had dinner with a family yesterday who invited her nephew and his girlfriend over to meet us!! The sister shared she had before been nervous to do so, but after reading that missionary work was members' work too, she knew she could do her part and the Lord would take care of the rest! and then we have been asking members for names to pray for and they have been giving us names and then contact info and then saying they would invite them to the party this weekend! "By small and simple things are great things brought to pass"- this weekend is the tri-ward Thanksgiving party! Turkey, football, whipped creme pie eating contests and all! We are excited for the members to go out and invite their friends and family to come!

This week Elder Funk of the Seventy is coming for our Mission Tour and we have been asked to prepare a talk on his talk from Conference about how we obtain Spiritual Power. This topic just speaks to my soul! I have been spending some of my personal study time preparing our talk on how we receive spiritual power. It has been an incredible experience.........as I read Elder Funk's talk, the scriptures on the Atonement that have touched my life so deeply, and the PMG pages that have changed my life and faith in Christ.....Heavenly Father has just sent the Spirit into my heart and I have been able to pour my personal testimony into the pages! It has reminded and strengthened me of how much the Atonement has changed my life and the power that faith in the Savior and repentance have, especially how closely it has brought me to Him. I've come to feel more and more how much we have to consistently be strengthening our testimony of the Atonement, our Faith in Him, and sincere repentance and acknowledging our need for His help. As the third article of faith says......all can be cleansed through the Atonement through obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel- I love this....it means far more to me now then ever before! Love you all so dearly! Remember Him always!!

Love Sister J. :)

Packing up

 Whipped Creme Race--they loved it!

Pumpkin and choc chip cookies--all gone

Taiwan - Week 66 - November 20 - Another Temple Trip

Just want to say I LOVE YOU ALL!!


We got back from the temple a little late today and moved apartments to one in Tanzi so my email will be quite short today but I will write more on Monday :D

For the miracle, 2 Sundays ago, Sister Grigg and I felt impressed to have a special fast to find a prepared soul. We turned everything to the Lord and put all our faith in Him........met a mom on the street who was just searching for the truth! She is so prepared by Heavenly Father and she was in tears the first time she prayed with us..............THEN we received a referral from the Da keng sisters they had met on the road Friday morning, set up with her for that day and she was incredibly prepared by Heavenly Father too! Has already felt Heavenly Father's love and is working towards her baptismal goal! Words can not express my gratitude to Heavenly Father for sending not one, but TWO prepared souls to us who are incredible......pray is real, fasting opens the power of Heaven, and this is His work!

Sorry time is gone!!! But we had an amazing week last week!!! Love you all and I'll email again on Monday!

Sister J.

P.S. Temple was amazing. I love it! :D

 On the bus to the temple

The Zone

Love the temple!

Taiwan - Week 65 - November 11 - This Is The Time....

Hi Fam!!

Sounds like a lot of excitement at home this week :D Grateful for your emails every week! Well this was definitely a week to challenge our faith, but it only makes us stronger :) We had a number of investigators tell us they didn't have a desire to keep learning about the Gospel right now or too busy too meet.....even though I know the Lord has a perfect plan, and Sister Grigg and I personally have felt that one of them will be baptized in the future, it is still hard. When you come to love them so dearly and know how important this is for them, it really does cause you to rely whole-heartedly upon your faith in the Lord......that's all I can do many days :D We've got HOPE and that carries us along too! BUT we did still have so many miracles this week!

We have a new investigator who I met on the road about a month ago. She's probably about 50, single, had some hard things in the past, and has a heart of love :) Yesterday as we were meeting with her she told us that she had lots of missionaries talk to her on the road before and just turned them away. The night when I ran into her, she had just had a hard time with her friend and was feeling quite sad, but as I started to talk to her she thought that this must have been God telling her that He wasn't giving up on her...she thought we were angels sent to her :) and because of that she was willing to meet with us and is now coming to church this Sunday! Yesterday she was telling us a lot of her concerns and challenges in life (she likes to talk :) ) and I realized that everything she said can be overcome and she can be changed through repentance, forgiveness, and the power of the Atonement. It's a true fact.....every single soul needs the healing and enabling power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. For this dear sweet sister, I'm so grateful for Heavenly Father's an pai and love for her, He knows her worth and potential.......she has a desire to be baptized and she can truly come to know her Heavenly Father and be healed by her Savior.

Well I must say that it has become even more clear as to why Sister Grigg and I are in Tanzi........to help in Hastening the Work of Salvation :) We came to Ward Correlation on Sunday and were handed a calendar with the names of some of the High Priest's wives' names. They have signed up for different times and we will visit with them weekly to do missionary work together......beginning with getting to know them and build their faith, and then with results of visiting their friends, family, or LAs together. The 1st Counselor in the Bishopric is incredible! He is leading Hastening the Work of Salvation in the ward- He has the faith, vision, desire, and drive! The question is that the members aren't sure how to do it, so we brainstormed with him for a little bit after church about how to help them act and it truly does begin with prayer and faith! He said the Tanzi Ward loves the missionaries and will listen to us even more than the Bishopric sometimes :) So we came home from church yesterday and I dedicated my whole personal study to how we could help the members live this. It was incredible!! I prayed with all my soul to Heavenly Father open the windows of revelation, opened my scriptures to Alma and verses just came alive on every page that I felt impressed that we could share with the members about the power of the scriptures, faithful prayer, the Lord preparing souls, and our own conversion through the Atonement. I started writing and then even more ideas came for speaking in church, firesides, hand-outs for RS and all! Then I opened up to April Conference and read a few talks on missionary work and received even more thoughts and impressions from the Spirit and soon an entire page was filled! Even as I prayed last night, I felt Heavenly Father just confirm to me over and over again by the Spirit that this is what He wants us to do here- this is our vision :) I'm so grateful for this incredible ward and their desire to hasten the work, so grateful for prayer and the Spirit that open the windows of revelation, so grateful for a loving Heavenly Father that speaks to His children constantly, and for this miraculous work :) My vision for the coming months.........to help Sister Grigg become the best missionary in the whole world and to help Tanzi get going in hastening the work of Salvation :)

Today I had a Costco hot-dog and it was delicious :) Also went on exchanges this week with Sister Jian from Taipei who is just stellar and learned a lot about giving your whole heart to the area :) My dear Fam, you are incredible :) If you don't have a vision for your life for next year, you should make one :) Pray, read, ponder about....make a vision, then set the goals and plans to accomplish it......my mission changed completely when I made mine :)...the Lord has great plans in store for each of us and with a united vision with Him, we can accomplish great things :) I love you all- have a stupendous week!

Sister J. :)

Taiwan - Week 64 - November 3 - Happy November

HI Everyone!!!!

How are you?????????? Love you like crazy :D Well this was a week of miracles :) So much love this week!

Our dear sweet investigator had a great week.....we had a very bold member (and when I say bold, I mean bold and animated and just tells it how it is! Love this sister :) ) come with us to visit her and after that lesson, she hadn't smoked for two days! Earlier in the week, we had set up with her and went over with a member, but when we got there her neighbors said she had just biked down the street so we followed! And I kept thinking why would she have left if she knew we were coming........then I was thinking what plan Heavenly Father had for today as well......well we followed her to a grocery store, we waited outside for a few minutes and then Sister Grigg and I decided to go inside and find her. We found her and saw a can of coffee in her hands and asked her what she was doing........then she walked over and put it down and checked out :) In that lesson that day, she shared with us that she felt she hadn't received an answer from Heavenly Father about the B of M or the Church being true, but then as we shared the wonderful Hel. 12:5 about the Spirit and our pei-ke shared a beautiful testimony.....she realized that the peaceful, happy feelings in her heart while she prayed were the Spirit and she had received her answer! Her face lit up and the biggest smile was on her face!! She had prayed and asked God, and now she knew He had answered her and she declared boldly that she knew it was true! Such a special lesson that I will never forget..........then the next day she told us we were her angels that Heavenly Father had sent into the store to stop her from buying coffee! I definitely believe it- Heavenly Father works in miraculous ways :D This sweet Sister is so incredible..........I know she can do it, by the power of God she can..........this is what the Atonement is all about.......it changes us, helps us to live God's standards and live up to our divine potential. I know she can do it!

I took Sister Grigg to get some good American Subway on Monday :) and in the mall we met a sister from the Philippines who is working here, a member from the Philippines since she was 14 and hasn't been able to find the church in Tanzi for two years until she saw a group of Sisters in the mall! We met with her later this week and she shared with us her story and testimony and her desire to be active again! She said she has been praying to Heavenly Father recently that she could find the missionaries or the church and she found us! Then she pulled out her old, worn-down English triple combo and we gave her a new B of M in Tagalog and she almost cried :) She is married, with husband and little boy still in the Philippines and she is here working here for another year........she testified of how much the Gospel has blessed her family as her parents are both members and how much the Spirit comes into our lives as we read the scriptures. I had a moment when I was sharing my testimony with her.......one of those moments when you know that that is exactly where you are supposed to be.......bearing testimony of the Savior and that you want to do it forever. She came to church this Sunday and bless her heart was so patient with my translating, but another Sister is going to take her to the English branch in a few weeks and she is just so happy! She wants to go through the temple and receive her Pat. blessing too :)What a miracle :)

My b day was wonderful! On the 30th, I totally forgot it was my B day the next day!! haha :D My dear sweet companion made us funfetti pancakes, visited a lot of wonderful souls, and we had McDonald's ice cream.......twice.....in one day :) Then we bought some cakes at 7-11, my companion stuck them all together and we made a party of it :) Wow 23........well this is about as far as I imagined my life when I was a little kid, so I've got no certain plans for the future! Let the excitement begin!

This week my studies were all centered on our covenants and the power and blessings that come as we keep them. This was definitely what my Heavenly Father wanted me to study every day because it was in a verse of scripture that I read every day :) I felt prompted to read the section on covenants in True to the Faith and I read that as we keep our covenants, we don't have to be commanded in all things. Then it led me to D&C 58: 27-28, the words of the Lord that we can do many good things of our own free will and bring to pass much righteousness. This is amazing to me!! What a powerful blessing, as we keep our covenants we have made with God, we don't have to be told by Him everything we need to do, but we can go forward and do the things we feel are right or desire to do.......we can ask for His confirmation and then go and do. We had an opportunity to share this message with the 1st Counselor in the Stake Presidency and His family and we talked about how it applies to missionary work. We don't have to wait for the Lord to tell us who's ready or who to invite, but if we are keeping our covenants, we can go and invite and share with those we want to and bring to pass "so much righteousness!" I know in my mission that I have progressed the most as I didn't wait to be told everything we needed to do, but as I prayed and then went and did! Our covenants are so precious.......and especially I know that as much as they were mentioned in Conference, the Lord truly wants us to be strong covenant keepers right now- so cool!

Well I love you all! Can I just tell you that love is the greatest of all the gifts of God? It truly is!!! I know that Heavenly Father loves us all immensely, the Savior love us so that He gave is life for us so we can overcome our weaknesses and become the brightest of lights, I love you all so much!!! Go out and spread that love!!

Sister J.